“This march will be the beginning of activism taking place on 79th Street. We are marching to let this community know that positive, professional and college-educated black men live in this community,” Rev. Roosevelt Watkins, an Alpha member and pastor of Bethlehem Star Missionary Baptist Church on the South Side. “We will stand up for this community. We are marching as men to confront the violence on these blocks and to reinvigorate economic development on 79th Street.”

According to an article on Examiner.com Coleman Conley, director of community service programs for the Xi Lambda chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., said it is incumbent for black men to take control of their communities by setting examples for youth to follow.

“The brothers of Alpha Phi Alpha, young and all, college and alumni are excited to come together and provide our leadership to the young men in this community for life’s real situations,” explained Conley. “We are ready and committed to ending this violence and treat the spirit of hopelessness that has taken a hold on too many of our young people.”